


MUDBLOOD

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-10
Updated: 2007-09-10
Packaged: 2019-01-19 21:30:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12418554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: One word, two syllables, eight letters, and the intertwined lives of three people changed forever. Unforgivable, unspeakable, unbelievable. The story could have been so different if not for that one word, and all that it came to mean.  Series of drabbles on Lily, James and Severus’s complicated relationship.  Chapter titles spell "Mudblood."





	1. M aster and servant, man and wife

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

Unintentionally but not entirely by coincidence, both happen on the same night.

At almost the same moment, Tom Riddle touches Severus Snape’s forearm with his wand, and James Potter slips a ring on Lily Evan’s finger.

Two breaks in one night for a bond that had snapped long ago on a sunny lawn by a glittering lake.  Two dramatic gestures to sever a tie that had been cut with a single word.

Both think, at the same moment, of a time many years ago when she had grabbed his arm in fear.  His right arm.  Her left hand.  They both knew long ago the gesture would not be repeated now.

The only question that remains is, if she had done it tonight, would the livid tattoo on his arm burn her more than the cold gold of the ring on her finger would sting him?


	2. U nspeakably stubborn

Her emerald eyes roll in her head whenever she sees them together: first sniping then shouting then finally, inevitably, shooting curses at each other.  In later years, they both flick an occasional glance at her to see if she is impressed or shocked (she is neither) or if she will interfere (only once).  They are too stubborn to let go of hate even for a girl they will both profess to love.

His hazel eyes widen to see them together: friends with a Slytherin?  Perfect Lily with Snivellus?  Chatting merrily?  In later years, they both shoot glances at him, full of venom and what might be interest, to see if he is still watching them (always) or if he will approach them (usually).  They are too stubborn to go their separate ways at Hogwarts, even for the friends and housemates they claim mean everything to them.

His black eyes smolder to see them together: both powerful, both popular, both laughing, both Gryffindors.  In later years, they will both watch him, guilty emerald and triumphant brown, to see if he is angry (every single time) or if he will try to reclaim her (only once).  They are both too stubborn to give up, but he fears that she will soften before he despairs.

One word makes it all irrelevant.  No one was surprised they were too stubborn to let it go.


	3. D rinks with an old friend

Alastor Moody had taught her well.

_Her husband_ would have told her not to drink anything that he gave her at this meeting, but the old Auror would insist that she bring her own.

Will she hear his warning through her distrust?  Through her careful training never to believe someone like him?

She does not greet him.  She does not touch the gillywater he ordered for her.  She does not listen to his plea.  She cannot listen to her old friend when that one word is still buzzing like a fly in her ears.

Crushed and angry, he lets her leave unwarned of her danger.

From what he hears, she shouldn’t have been drinking at all, even from her own hip flask.


	4. B lessed and broken

“Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Severus Snape had done enough speaking for the rest of his life. He had done enough damage. _Filthy little Mudblood_.

“I now pronounce you man and wife.”

He watches from a distance as a priest, with one simple sentence, forges Lily and James into one person as if the bride had never been a part of _him_ , had never belonged to him, as if the holy man neither knew nor cared that he could never be with a woman who had become one with his worst enemy.

Lily Evans was no more. Lily Potter, at last in name and ritual what he had always feared she would become.  His.  


One “ _Mudblood”._ Two _“I do”_ s _._ The only three phrases that now mattered.


	5. L ight as a feather

He lifts her off of her feet as if she weighed nothing at all and twirls her around in celebration.  It is only a Quidditch match, but from their reaction, you would think they had ended the War.  They are unaware of the boy glaring at their joy.

 

He lifts him off of his feet as if gravity did not exist and hangs him by his ankles.  It is only for a stunt, but from her reaction, you would think he had strangled her cat.  They are unaware of impending moment when everything will change.

 

She sails through the air as if it is perfectly normal, grabbing his hand and lifting him along with her.  It is only untrained magic in an empty playground, but from their reaction, you would think they had discovered Neverland.  They are unaware of anyone else in the world.

 

They all secretly fear the moment when the weight catches up to them.


	6. O nly you

She would not thank him for this.  She would not thank him for saving her without her husband and son.

She would not forgive him for asking only for her life.  She would not forgive him just because he still loved her.  Because he would not honor who she still loved.

_How many duels have you lost because you thought it might be her?  How many times have missed because your biggest fear was not death but that your mask would slip and she would see what you have become?_

_How many times have you seen her throw herself in the path of an enemy or a curse to protect him?  How many times has he nearly lost because he is looking around for the sight of her?_

They cared only for each other, and he spared only her.

She would not thank him for his mercy, because she was the only one to whom he extended it.  She would not thank him for not firing at her and moving on to try to kill her husband or her friends.  She would not forgive him just because he loved her.  Because he could not honor those she loved.


	7. O ver the moon

The morning after both of their eyes are bloodshot.  Both heads are topped with disheveled, unwashed black hair as they sit glaring at each other across the hall.    Both of their shoulders sag.  Both of their spirits are broken.

Remus and Sirius are not there at all.  Peter is quiet.

The story filters through in pieces.  Not through the gossip of the school for once, but from what the boys themselves say, the looks they exchange, and the pain and anger in their eyes.

They look so similar in that moment, but the story that filters through to her ears sets them drastically apart.  A boy she has protected and explored with went off without her and got himself into more trouble than he could handle.  A boy she has despised and dismissed as selfish went after him and snatched him back at great personal risk.

It’s as if they joined together in that one moment that morning then switched places in her life.  Only she didn’t know it then.  Not until he spoke the unforgivable word did she see that they had switched places the morning after.

Stranger things had happened under the full moon at Hogwarts.


	8. D eath and ashes

There was one boy for whom they all died.

Lily most directly, but then she had always been the most direct.

James first, but then he always had to be the first.

Severus much later, but then it had always taken him longer to catch on.

But for one word it might all have turned out very differently.  Lily and Sev might have been together; if not forever, long enough to keep her from ending up with his mortal enemy.  James Potter might have been the one alone or, more likely, made some other girl nearly as deliriously happy as he had made Lily.  They might have lived to a ripe old age – Lily and James as the Dark Lord’s daring enemies, fearless as they had been before they had someone to protect, and Severus as his honored servant.  They might have all lived long, fought well, and died at forty or fifty in any case.  They might have all fought and died alone, for no one.

There might have been no Harry Potter.

Where would the wizarding world be then?

The word Mudblood would certainly be spoken much more often.


End file.
